


Dizzy On The Comedown

by LacrymosaDiesIlla



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Service Dogs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2020-10-20 08:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20672051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LacrymosaDiesIlla/pseuds/LacrymosaDiesIlla
Summary: Service dogs save lives, but when two disabled women meet in a service dog training class, could they also bring two lives together?Modern AU. Robin has diabetes, ADHD, and depression. Nancy has POTS, fibromyalgia, PTSD, and an eating disorder. Steve has a traumatic brain injury. Jonathan has autism. They become a little disabled family.





	1. Chapter 1

Autumn leaves twirled on a chilled breeze, fluttering and dancing over the barren roadway. As the wind died down, a particularly red leaf settled on the pavement, only to be pressed under the wheel of a small silver sedan. Inside the car, a tall, freckled woman sat behind the wheel, scanning the horizon as she drove. Behind her in the backseat, a cat carrier was strapped in using the seatbelt, a quiet whining noise coming from the bars in the front.  
  
"We're almost there, kiddo," the woman said, looking at the carrier through the rearview mirror. As she spoke, a little brick building with a bell on the roof came into view. In front of it was a sign: Ye Olde One-Room Schoolhouse. It was exactly as it had been described: quaint and charming, with a big fenced in field behind. Several cars were parked in the gravel parking lot out front, and soon the silver sedan joined them.  
  
The woman got out of her car and opened the door to the backseat, reaching into the carrier and pulling out a tiny, orange Pomeranian puppy. Excited to be out of confinement, he wiggled in her arms and strained his neck trying to lick her face, while she strained her neck to avoid it. "Settle, settle," she cooed, then began walking to the front door.  
  
Though the building looked like an old schoolhouse from the outside, there were no desks or bookshelves on the inside. Instead, it was just open floor with people walking their dogs aimlessly around, cooing and giving commands as they wandered. The floor was vinyl, recently put in from the looks of it, and the lights were bright and welcoming. In the back, where a chalkboard might have been in the old days, was a whiteboard with neatly written bullet points in the center, and names written in a column along the left side, beneath the words "Sign In!" written in bubble letters. Briefly, she scanned the list of names.  
  
Sasha/Allegra  
Harris/Jasmine  
Nancy/Jackson  
Devin/Pierce  
Steve/Kane  
  
The format appeared to be 'Person Name/Dog Name', if she wasn't mistaken. Walking beside the wall to avoid getting in anyone's path, she made her way to the whiteboard and added her own line to the list: Robin/Russel. When she turned around from doing that, she noticed a stout woman with short hair approaching her, no dog by her side. Robin recognized her; They had met on three occasions: once when she had toured the facility, once when she had signed contracts, and once when they had gone to pick out her puppy from the breeder. Her name began with an H, Robin was sure, but she couldn't remember exactly what it was. Stupid ADHD never allowed her to remember people's names.  
  
"Hey there!" the woman greeted. "Glad you could make it!"  
  
"Hey," Robin returned with a polite smile. "Of course, I wanna get this process started as soon as possible."  
  
"Well, great that you're enthusiastic. I hope you keep that up, because training a service dog is a lot of work."  
  
Robin nodded dutifully at that. She had been warned of that more than once, but she was up for the challenge. With her mental health the way it was and her diabetes ever lingering over her, she and her doctor had determined a service dog to be the next step in her treatment plan. She had researched programs that provided fully trained dogs, but most of them costed over $10k and/or had waiting lists of over two years. So she had looked into owner training, but the service dog handlers she had talked to had warned her that it was difficult, and that she would likely still need a private trainer to work with her, which could be just as costly. So, she had found a happy medium: an owner training program. The lead trainer, Woman-Whose-Name-Begins-With-H, held training classes twice a week, and assigned homework for all the clients to complete on their own between classes. All clients were people training their own service dogs, but the nature of their disabilities varied. However, the trainer had assured her that many people had come through the program for diabetic alert dogs and psychiatric service dogs, so training one dog to do both sets of tasks would not be a problem.  
  
"We won't start task training until your pup is around six months old," the woman explained. "But it's important that you come to every class until then anyways, because we'll be working on basic obedience and socialization."  
  
Robin nodded again, and the woman turned towards the center of the room.  
  
"Nancy!" she called out. A petite woman, about Robin's age, with wavy chestnut hair and wide blue eyes started walking their way, a golden retriever in perfect step with her. Robin couldn't help but notice just how pretty she was, but she shook the thought off. Dog training class might have seemed like a great place to pick up girls, but maybe not on her first day.  
  
"Yeah, Hannah?" Right, Hannah. That was her name. Robin repeated it over and over in her head, hoping to commit it to memory.  
  
"This is the newest member of the Independence Canines family!" Hannah said, motioning to Robin. "What's your name again, dear?"  
  
Robin felt a little less guilty now that she realized that Hannah didn't know her name, either. "Robin," she reminded her.  
  
"Right, Robin," Hannah agreed. "Robin, this is Nancy. She's been training with us for three years now, and her dog, Jackson, is a fully trained service dog."  
  
Robin could tell that Jackson had done some pretty rigorous training. He walked in perfect step with Nancy, and sat immediately when she stopped moving, looking up at her face and ignoring the wiggling puppy in Robin's arms. She wondered if Russel would ever get to that point.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Nancy," Robin said. Nancy smiled her greeting with tight lips.  
  
"I'm going to have Nancy work with you on the basics," Hannah explained. "That way you get some one-on-one training while I'm working with the more experienced dogs. Don't worry, Nancy and Jackson are old pros at this point. You're in good hands."  
  
Robin was a little disappointed. She had been hoping to work with the Bergin-educated trainer, not another client. But she told herself that it made sense, Hannah was probably stretched thin with all the different things the different dogs needed to do, and something easy like puppy manners probably wasn't worth her expertise at that point. She could make do with Nancy.  
  
So, she smiled at the other woman, and Hannah walked away, calling something out as she approached a man in a wheelchair.  
  
"Okay," Nancy said, sounding all business. She motioned to the puppy in Robin's arms. "Put him on the floor, please. What's his name?"  
  
Robin obeyed, keeping a hold on the leash as she gently lowered Russel to the ground. "His name's Russel," she informed her.  
  
"Cute," Nancy replied. "Does he know it?"  
  
Demonstrating, Robin called to the pup in a high pitched voice. "Russel!" He looked up at her, wagging his little tail.  
  
"Good. What else does he know already?"  
  
"Not a lot," Robin replied sheepishly. That was to say, nothing. "We've mostly been focused on potty training."  
  
"Okay, that's fair," Nancy said, and Robin relaxed a little, glad that she wasn't being judged for not having taught her twelve-week-old puppy how to do anything. "We'll work on his sit command first. Now, I can't bend down to show you, but basically, you're going to want to use your verbal command and your hand signal while putting him into the position."  
  
Robin looked her over, confused. "Why can't you bend over?" she asked. She looked physically healthy, if a little on the thin side, and she had walked fine when she approached.  
  
"Well, I mean, I can," Nancy corrected herself. "I'll just probably pass out if I do. I have a syndrome called POTS, if you've heard of that? It messes with my heart rate and blood pressure, so I get really dizzy when I change positions."  
  
"Oh," Robin replied, feeling a little bad for having questioned her. "Yeah, don't bend over then. I wouldn't know what to do if you passed out."  
  
Nancy chuckled a little bit, reaching down to pet her dog's ears. "Jackson would handle it," she assured her. "He's good at taking care of me and all my various symptoms. Just like Russel will be able to take care of you and whatever it is that brings you here someday."  
  
Robin glanced at the golden retriever in admiration. "How does he handle it?" she asked, curious. She knew what she wanted to train her dog to do for her, but she had never even heard of Nancy's condition, so she didn't know what a dog could do about it.  
  
Nancy shifted her weight, apparently settling in for a long list. "Well, for my POTS, he alerts to abnormalities in my heart rate and blood pressure so that I can sit down if I'm going to faint," she explained. "He also gets stuff off the floor for me so that I don't have to bend down, and helps me up whenever I need to sit or stand. If I do pass out, he licks my face to help me come around faster, then lays on my chest so that I don't try to get up while I'm still confused." Robin listened, mouth agape. She thought she was done talking, but then she just continued. "The item retrieval and helping me up also helps with my fibromyalgia, and he can open doors and stuff on days where I have to use my wheelchair. For my PTSD, he does DPT, blocking, grounding, and perimeter checks."  
  
Robin was wide eyed. "Is there anything he doesn't do?" she asked, side eyeing the dog.  
  
"I usually do all my own breathing," Nancy joked, then quickly moved on before giving Robin a chance to laugh. "But let's work on sitting before we start focusing on the big stuff. This is the hand signal I use." She demonstrated with Jackson, then had Robin work with Russel on it. Making good progress, they practiced the command for only about five minutes before Nancy cut in.  
  
"Alright, now we give him a break," she instructed.  
  
"But we've barely started?" Robin was surprised.  
  
"He's just a baby," Nancy explained. "It's five minutes a day for every month of age, so we'll only do fifteen minutes of training total tonight. The rest we'll spend resting or playing. Do you mind if I pet him?"  
  
"Oh, yeah," Robin started to bend over to pick Russel up and bring her to Nancy's eye level, but at the same time, Nancy started slowly lowering herself to the floor to get to his level. She sat cross legged on the ground, putting out a hand to let the pup sniff her. Wiggling wildly, he ignored the hand and went straight to her lap, causing her to giggle in a way that struck Robin straight in the chest. She had always been a sucker for pretty girls, apparently even ones that she had just met. Jackson laid down beside his handler, putting his chin on her knee and looking up at her pitifully.  
  
"I didn't forget you," Nancy assured her dog before looking to Robin. "He gets so jealous every time I touch another dog."  
  
Robin, too, lowered herself to the floor and watched as Nancy played with Russel with one hand while stroking Jackson with the other. "With you having so many medical problems, does he ever get to, like, not be on duty?" she asked.  
  
"Jackson gets plenty of time to be a dog," Nancy assured her, looking up at her. "He plays fetch and runs with other dogs and all that fun stuff. And he loves to work, so even if I need him when he's off duty, it's not a huge hardship for him." Robin nodded, and Nancy paused for a second to roll Russel onto his back and scratch his belly. That important task taken care of, she looked back to Robin. "So, can I ask what tasks you're hoping to teach him when he's older?"  
  
"I have diabetes," Robin started. "So Hannah said we can train him to smell highs and lows in my blood sugar so that I can adjust accordingly. He'll also remind me to take medications, because I forget _everything._" She started wracking her brain for other things to say, because she felt like Nancy's dog did _so much_, and she felt a little bit invalid for utilizing a service dog for only a few tasks. Nancy must have noticed this hesitation, because she nodded encouragingly.  
  
"That sounds like it'll be helpful to you," she said. Robin relaxed a little; apparently that wasn't too few tasks. "Is there a reason you picked such a small breed? Because if he was gonna be larger I'd suggest teaching him to get juice out of the fridge for you, too."  
  
"I wanted a small breed because I live in a small apartment," Robin explained. "And I wanna travel someday, so I wanted a dog who could easily fit on an airplane. And he'll be easier to put under tables at restaurants."  
  
Nancy seemed to accept that. "Makes sense," she said. "I would probably have a smaller dog, too, if I didn't need mobility tasks."  
  
They talked for a little while longer, then Jackson helped Nancy back to her feet as they started working on teaching the puppy to heel for their next five minutes of training. That was difficult, Robin had to bend down far to lure Russel with a treat, and she found her back hurting even in the short amount of time they worked. But it didn't last long, and soon they were taking another break. They talked through that one as they had the first, and Robin found herself allowing herself to be familiar with the other woman. Certainly, she was grateful for getting to utilize her time.  
  
At the end of class, Nancy bid her farewell and walked towards a man with a German Shepherd, who turned to her and started talking almost immediately. Robin watched them for a second, then gathered her dog in her arms and began to walk out the door. Before she could make it outside however, Nancy's voice called out to her.  
  
"Hey!" Robin turned to her and she continued. "A couple of us are going out for drinks. Any chance I could convince you to come?"


	2. Chapter 2

Robin paused, surprised by Nancy's question. It was her first time meeting these people, and she was already being invited out? It sounded fun, but she was already exhausted from learning so much and meeting so many new people. She really didn't get out much, usually, because that required acting a certain way she didn't really feel: happy. She hated to think of herself as an unhappy person, but in a lot of ways, she was. And it took a lot of energy to hide it.  
  
Then again, she did like drinks, and drinking with acquaintances seemed more socially acceptable than going home and drinking alone. She could probably pretend to be social a little while longer.  
  
"Yeah, sure," she said, as chipperly as she could muster.  
  
"Great! Just drop Russel at home and meet us at Klaus's. We'll meet you there."  
  
"Who all is going?" Robin asked, trying to feel out the size of the group.  
  
"You, Steve, Steve's boyfriend, and I," Nancy counted off.  
  
"I'm Steve," the man with the German Shepherd explained, raising a hand in greeting.  
  
Robin offered a polite smile. "Nice to meet you," she replied, wondering if she would even remember his name by the time she got to the pub.  
  
"So, see you there?" Nancy confirmed. Robin nodded in response, causing her to continue with a, "Great!"  
  
As instructed, she brought Russel back to her house, fed him dinner, let him pee one last time, then returned him to the crate and left for Klaus's. She'd been there before, it was one of the few places to get a decent burger in Hawkins, and the only one of those places with a Happy Hour. She wondered if the rest of her companions were planning on having dinner while there; She was famished. At the very least maybe she could convince them to get some appetizers.  
  
On arrival, she quickly located her group by the presence of their three dogs under the table. She hadn't known that Steve's boyfriend also had a service dog; She wondered why he hadn't been at class. Either way, she approached, impressed at their ability to squeeze into one table with three large dogs underneath.   
  
"Hey," she greeted, sitting in the seat between Nancy and Steve's yet-unnamed boyfriend. She turned to him and stuck out a hand to shake. "I'm Robin."  
  
"Jonathan," he replied, not taking her hand. She was confused, but Steve spoke up.  
  
"He doesn't do physical contact with strangers," he explained, putting a hand on Jonathan's back and scratching his shoulder. "We're kinda a quirky group."  
  
"Sorry," Jonathan said quietly, but he offered a small, tight smile in place of the handshake.   
  
"No worries," Robin said, returning her hand to her side. "Nice to meet you." She wanted to ask why he was opposed to touching strangers, and her curiosity nearly forced her to, but she held herself back. She got the sense that he was a little uncomfortable with her already, and she didn't want to make it worse.  
  
Before anyone could say anything else, the waitress arrived and took their drink orders. Before she could leave to get the drinks, though, Steve stopped her and looked around the table.  
  
"Anyone else want an appetizer?" he asked. Robin felt an immediate kinship to him. A man after her own heart.  
  
"I could eat," she said, trying to sound casual about it.  
  
"Cool," Steve replied. "Could we get a couple menus, then?" The waitress nodded and went off to get everything.   
  
Steve turned to Robin. "Okay, here's where it gets complicated. It might be easiest if we all get our own food, because there's a lot of dietary restrictions in this group. Jonathan won't eat anything spicy, and can't eat eggs. Nancy won't eat anything with too many calories, but needs a certain amount of salt in her diet. And I can eat whatever I want, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm just hungry enough that I don't wanna share right now. Anything we need to watch out for with you?"  
  
"I'm diabetic," she explained. Steve put his head back a bit.  
  
"Oh, so you probably have to eat a certain way, too," he reasoned. "How about we get, like, a vegetable platter for the table, then we can each get something for ourselves?"  
  
Everyone seemed to agree to that and, when the waitress came back, they put in their order for the veggie plate and started looking over the menus for additional food. Robin had decided that she wanted chips and salsa, but was wondering if it was going to be too much food. Eventually, she decided that if she didn't finish it she could just take some home and eat it for a different meal. She rarely had the energy or attention span to cook, so leftovers were often life saving.  
  
As she looked around the table, she noted that Nancy and Jonathan had both put down their menus, and Jonathan had leaned over and was talking to Steve in a low voice. It took her a minute to figure out what he was doing, but eventually she realized that he was reading the menu to him. Nancy just have noticed her staring, because she jumped in to explain.  
  
"Steve has a traumatic brain injury," she said. Steve looked up at his name, gave a sheepish smile, then returned his gaze to the menu. "He can read, but he loses his place and it ends up taking awhile."  
  
"Yeah," Steve confirmed, causing Jonathan to pause in his reading. "And I haven't taught Kane to read yet, so I keep Jonathan around." He patted his boyfriend's back to assure him that he was kidding.  
  
Robin couldn't help but think that that was unbelievably sweet. She could only hope that she'd have a girlfriend someday that would take care of her like Steve and Jonathan seemed to take care of each other. She remained quiet for a little longer, allowing Steve make his choice and put the menu down, then asked, "So, did you all meet through dog training?"  
  
"It's actually kind of a funny story," Steve said. "Nancy and I met through dog training, but Nancy and Jonathan met in group therapy, and Jonathan and I met through Nancy."  
  
He paused, and Nancy added, "There was a lot of shuffling in the group dynamic before we got to this point, though."  
  
Robin wrinkled her brow, not sure what that meant. Steve continued.  
  
"Nancy and I dated first," he explained. "Then Nancy and Jonathan. Now Jonathan and me. So we've kinda tried this in every combination." He cracked a grin at that.  
  
Dumbfounded, Robin looked to Nancy for confirmation, and received it in the form of a nod. "Steve and Jonathan didn't really get along at first," she explained. "But things are very different now, as you can see."  
  
"Yeah, seems like it," Robin said, glancing at the two young men. They seemed very close, she couldn't imagine them not getting along. After a second, she looked back to Nancy. "I don't know a lot of people who willingly hang out with their exes."  
  
Nancy shrugged. "They're good guys," she said. Steve put a hand to his heart, pretending to be touched by her words. "And I don't have a lot of other friends, so..." She gestured vaguely.  
  
"I get that," Robin said, a little quietly. She didn't have a lot of friends either. She had in high school, but she had lost touch with most of those people through the years and hadn't had the energy to replace them with new ones.  
  
"It's hard to make friends as a person with a disability," Nancy lamented. "Even when you're feeling well enough to get out and meet people, fully abled people never really understand you or what you go through."  
  
Jonathan nodded in earnest at that. Robin got the sense that he really identified with not being understood. Considering how few words he had said since she got there, she supposed that made sense.  
  
"I suppose class is a good way to meet people, then," Robin commented.  
  
"If you don't mind almost all your friends being old people," Steve commented with a chuckle. "Oh- here comes the waitress."  
  
The waitress set the drinks on the table, then took her notepad from her apron. "The veggie platter will be right out. Can I get you all anything else?"  
  
Steve started. "Could I get the loaded nachos?" he asked. The waitress wrote it down, and then Steve spoke again. "And do you use eggs in your tater tots?" Receiving a no, he smiled. "Great, then he'll have the tater tots." Jonathan mumbled his thanks, then the waitress turned to Nancy.  
  
"I'm okay with just the veggie platter," she said, a little quieter than she had been when talking to her tablemates. "Thank you, though."  
  
Then, it was Robin's turn. "I'll have the chips and mango salsa," she requested. With that, the waitress nodded and left, leaving the group to their drinks.  
  
Nancy took the lemon slice off the rim of her glass and squeezed it into her vodka seltzer, while Steve and Jonathan clinked glasses and took sips of their respective drinks - rum and coke for Steve, a martini for Jonathan. Robin had ordered a Cosmopolitan, which she sipped slowly. Within minutes, the waitress returned and placed their veggie platter on the table. In the center were three dips, which Steve reached for immediately. To Robin's confusion, he took one of them and held it under the table. It took her a second to realize that he was letting Jonathan's dog sniff it.  
  
"Clear," Jonathan said, and Steve put the dip back and repeated the action with the next container. Robin glanced under the table and watched as the boxer raised a paw to touch Jonathan's leg. "That one's got egg," Jonathan said, and Steve put it off the platter, far from his boyfriend. They did this one more time with the third dip, and Robin watched the dog sniff it and sit down. "Clear."  
  
"Does your dog sniff out eggs for you?" Robin asked, amazed.  
  
Jonathan nodded. "Clash does a lot for me," he said softly.  
  
"That's awesome," she said. Under the table, Clash lay back down beside Jackson and Kane.  
  
Jonathan seemed to brighten some. "Watch this," he instructed. He doubled over, elbows against his thighs, and feigned pounding his fists against his head. Without missing a beat, the boxer under the table got back to his feet and placed his forepaws on Jonathan's knees, using his nose to nudge at his hands and face until he stopped what he was doing and started petting his neck. At this point, Clash began licking his face, his entire rear and wiggling.  
  
Steve grabbed a baby carrot from the platter and dipped it in one of the bowls before putting it in his mouth. "He knows you're faking it," he commented with a chuckle. "Look at his butt. He's way more serious about it when it's real."  
  
Jonathan nodded in agreement. "Clash, off," he commanded, and the dog immediately returned his forepaws to the floor. "Now watch this," he told Robin. Again, he lowered his head and began scratching at his wrist gently. Again, Clash began nosing his hands until he stopped. Robin was impressed, and slightly endeared by just how much more comfortable Jonathan seemed while showing off his dog. He was beginning to come out of his shell, it seemed.  
  
"That's really cool," she said encouragingly. "Can't wait until Russel learns some tasks."  
  
They talked a little longer before the rest of the food came out and continued as the plates were placed in front of them. Steve ate heartily, a stark contrast to Nancy, who merely nibbled at a piece of celery self-consciously. Jonathan was somewhere in between, taking the time to enjoy his tater tots, but not being so slow that it became a spectacle. As time passed, Robin found herself growing more comfortable with the group and seemed to forget all about the fatigue that had almost kept her in that night. They all ate together, laughed together, and drank together, though Robin was careful about that last part, not wanting to get too intoxicated before driving herself home.  
  
When they were done, they split the check and got up, Nancy and Jackson leading the small parade of people and dogs towards the door, while Robin took up the rear. As she watched each of the teams, she couldn't help but marvel at how well each dog had done, lying silently under the table for so long, then walking so politely by their handlers' sides. Someday Russel would do the same, she knew, but it seemed so far off.  
  
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see exactly what happened when Nancy stepped out the door, but she certainly heard it. A cacophony of barking, growling, and yelping rang out, and Jonathan covered his ears in front of her. Robin watched, startled and confused, as Steve lurched forward, yelling out, and immediately lost his balance and toppled to the ground, causing Jonathan to uncover his ears and lunge to help him. Other patrons stared at the chaos and Robin could only think to take a couple steps back so as to get out of the way. She had no idea what was happening.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: injuries to a person and animal

Robin watched, stunned as Jonathan helped Steve to sit up and talked to him in a hushed, but panicked tone. She still couldn't see what was going on with Nancy and Jackson on the other side of the door, but she could hear multiple dogs making noise. It sounded like there was a dogfight happening, and it occurred to her that Jackson must have met another dog - possibly two, by the sound of it - when stepping out the door.  
  
Once she had managed to understand the situation, she realized that she should probably act. Seeing that Jonathan had Steve under control, she skirted around the two and made her way swiftly out the door. There, she saw two dogs - a big bully mix and a husky - each snapping and biting at a cowering Jackson. She watched in horror as Nancy glanced around for anything to shove between the dogs, then, not finding anything, pushed herself into the fray, shielding Jackson with her body.  
  
"Hey, hey!" Robin yelled, scrambling forward and grabbing Nancy by the arm, pulling her out of the way.  
  
By that point, the owner of the two attacking dogs had managed to pull them off, but the blood splatters on the sidewalk showed that damage had already been done. "Shit, shit," Robin muttered, then turned on the owner. "Can't you keep your aggressive dogs on a leash?" she snapped. The woman shrunk back, still holding her snarling dogs by their collars.  
  
Nancy pulled her arm free from Robin's grasp and knelt on the ground in front of a whimpering Jackson. The golden retriever's face was bloodied, and one of his ears was torn. He'd certainly need to see a vet, but he seemed more concerned with his handler, insistently nudging Nancy's bitten legs. Nancy looked back to Robin pleadingly. "He's hurt," she said. "We need to get to the vet-"  
  
Robin cut her off. "You're hurt too," she said, looking down at the tears in her jeans, revealing equally tattered flesh. She was about to say more, but the door opened behind her. Jonathan, Steve, and their dogs emerged. Pain was written over Steve's face as he cradled one of his arms, and Kane stared silently up at him.  
  
"Is everyone alright?" he asked through gritted teeth. Then, he looked down at Nancy, who was still kneeling on the ground, and gave a grim expression as he saw the blood on her pants and Jackson's face.  
  
Jonathan piped up. "Steve hurt his wrist when he fell," he announced. "I'm gonna take him to the hospital."  
  
"You should probably take Nancy, too," Robin suggested.   
  
Nancy shook her head. "Jackson needs a vet first," she said. Robin noted that her voice sounded listless and shaky, and that Jackson had stopped nudging her and had taken to pawing her instead, though she ignored him.  
  
Robin rubbed her temples, overwhelmed with the chaos of the situation. "How about I take Jackson to the nearest vet, and you go with Jonathan and Steve to the hospital," she suggested.  
  
"Don't wanna leave him..." Jackson stepped forward and began licking Nancy's face. At that, Jonathan stepped away from Steve and knelt beside Nancy, putting a hand on her neck.  
  
"Your heart rate's up," he informed her. Robin frowned. She supposed that made sense, with everything going on, it was enough to get anyone worked up, especially someone who had cardiac issues in the first place. She just wished the timing was better.  
  
Nancy nodded, but remained quiet, squinting a little bit as Jackson continued licking her. Jonathan gently took Jackson's leash from her hand and passed it to Robin. "Take him," he said quietly. Robin obeyed, coaxing the dog away from his handler. Nancy reached out for him, but gave up quickly, letting her hand fall back to her side. She seemed more out of it by the second.  
  
Jonathan helped Nancy slowly to her feet, holding her upright as she adjusted to her new position. Once she was steady, he led her the couple steps towards Steve and looked back to Robin.  
  
"I'll give you my number," Jonathan offered. "Take Jackson to the vet, then text me what happens. I'll handle these two."  
  
They exchanged phone numbers, then Robin led Jackson to her car, despite the dog turning around every couple of steps to look for Nancy. Once he was sitting in her backseat, she got in the front and looked up nearby emergency veterinarians on her phone. She chose the nearest one and called as she began the drive, trying to ignore the pitiful whimpering in her backseat.  
  
Thanks to the phone call, she was met outside and Jackson was taken from her right away. After explaining the situation a little more fully, she took a seat in a room and waited while they brought him to the back room for stitches. As soon as she was alone, she took out her phone and texted Jonathan.  
  
**They're stitching him up. How's everything there?**  
  
She only had to wait a short while for a response. **Steve's wrist is sprained. Nancy's getting stitched up, too. She's really freaked out about Jackson.**  
  
Robin pursed her lips, feeling bad for the poor girl. She had obviously put a lot of time and love into her dog, the idea of him being hurt must have been devastating. Silently, she decided that she'd text a picture of him to Jonathan once he was all patched up, just so that Nancy could see that he was okay.  
  
That moment came soon enough. The vet brought Jackson back to Robin with his face stitched in several places. The dog stumbled a bit, his ears low and his face dopey; He'd obviously been given some sort of pain medication or sedative. He lay his head in Robin's lap as he reached her, looking up at her with tired eyes. Robin gave him a sympathetic smile, surprised at just how trusting he was of her, even having only met her that day.  
  
The vet explained what they had done, then gave instructions on how to care for the stitches, which Robin asked to have on paper to give to Nancy. No way was she going to remember it all on her own.  
  
That done, she took Jackson out to her car and helped him into the backseat. After turning on the overhead light, she gently took him by the chin and tipped his face upwards to get a picture, then texted it to Jonathan, followed by a text that read: **He's all done. He's drugged up, though.**  
  
She sat in the backseat of the car, gently stroking Jackson's head for about five minutes before Jonathan's reply came in. **Thanks. We're almost done here. If I give you Nancy's address, can you take him there?  
  
Of course.** She responded immediately.  
  
When Jonathan sent the address, she plugged it into her phone and moved to the front seat of the car, watching Jackson through the rearview mirror for a second to make sure he was settled before she started driving. Following her phone's directions, she found her way to Nancy's apartment building and parked out front. She texted Jonathan again to let him know that she was there, then assumed he was driving when she got no response. Sure enough, she soon saw him, along with Clash, Steve, Kane, and Nancy, walking from where he must have parked around the block. She got out of her car and went to get Jackson from the back.  
  
Jackson and Nancy reuniting was a beautiful thing, despite the fact that both the human and the dog were unsteady on their feet and more than a little out of it. Nancy got down on her knees to greet him, and he responded by snuffling beneath her chin, tongue peaking out to lick her. When they had properly greeted each other, Jonathan helped Nancy back to her feet.  
  
"I've got instructions for how to take care of his stitches," Robin offered, somewhat awkwardly, beginning to hand the stapled pages to Nancy. Steve intercepted them using his good arm.  
  
"Thanks," he said, then went on to explain. "They gave her a sedative at the hospital, she was having panic attacks over Jackson. Jonathan and I are gonna stay with her to make sure she's good through the night, we'll make sure that Jackson is taken care of, too."  
  
Robin nodded, watching Nancy. The woman was glassy-eyed and swayed slightly where she stood, her hand resting gently on Jackson's head. Robin felt bad for her, she'd had a rough evening. It was too bad, because everything leading up to the incident had been fun.  
  
She looked back to Steve and Jonathan. "Anything else I can do?"  
  
Steve gave a smile, though his eyes were weary. It had been a long night for him, too. "You've done plenty," he assured her. "Get home to that pup of yours. See you at the next class?"  
  
Robin nodded. "Yeah, see you guys. Feel better."  
  
For just a second, Nancy's wandering eyes focused on Robin's face. "Thanks, Robin," she mumbled, then allowed herself to be led into the apartment building. As soon as the trio were out of sight, Robin's shoulders sagged and she found herself dragged down by fatigue. Going out and being social would have exhausted her enough, but after everything that had happened, she felt as though she could fall asleep right there on the sidewalk. Instead, she got into her car and went home.  
  
She found that Russel had peed in his crate - unfortunate, but not unexpected. She had been out a lot longer than she had intended to. She took him outside, then cleaned it up when they got back in. Though she wanted to go straight to bed, she knew that she had to give the puppy some time outside of the crate before she put him right back in, so she dozed in and out on the couch while he ran around and played with his toys.  
  
Finally, she put him back in his crate and went to bed, nearly collapsing into the pillows. Usually, when she went to bed she found herself ruminating on the day, thinking of things that could have gone better or worrying that she had inadvertently done something wrong. That night, however, she was too tired to think of such things. Instead, she let out a breath so long it could have deflated her, and quickly fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

After Friday’s events, Robin stayed in through the weekend to recover from the stress. She spent short periods of time training Russel, but mostly let him wander and explore and just generally be a puppy, as Nancy had instructed. Nancy. Every time she thought of the girl, a pang shot through her stomach. Lord, she hoped that she and Jackson were doing alright after the attack; She knew that it had caused enough stress for herself, and thus couldn’t imagine how it was affecting her. Every once in a while, she’d pick up her phone and start to text Jonathan to ask how everyone was, but every time she ended up stopping herself. She didn’t want to bother anyone; It’s not like she really knew them, anyways. They’d just been out to drinks one time, so it wasn’t her business prodding into their lives. Besides, she’d see them all in class on Monday. She could be patient.

Finally, Monday rolled around and Robin found herself at the old schoolhouse for the second time, signing her name on the board and taking her place off to the side, by the wall, as Hannah talked to a person who appeared to have been a long time client, judging from the behavior of his dog. Robin’s own dog clearly illustrated that she was a newbie, fidgeting and tugging on his leash in boredom. She looked around for Nancy, or even Steve or Jonathan, wanting someone to come correct her and tell her how she was supposed to make little Russel behave. But they weren’t there yet, and that brought a little frown to her face. Her anxiety was telling her that something must have gone wrong, that they weren’t coming because of some horrible tragedy, but her rational brain promised her that this wasn’t the case. Either they’d be there soon, or they wouldn’t and their absence would be explained with non-catastrophic reasons. 

As it turned out, it was the former. The trio arrived all together - Robin vaguely remembered being told that Nancy and Steve didn’t drive - and Steve gave her a big grin upon their entrance. She returned his smile, but couldn’t help letting her eyes wander past him, towards Nancy. She was missing something: Jackson. The golden retriever did not accompany her, and she looked far worse for the fact. Her shoulders sagged, the bags under her eyes were dark and pronounced, and each step she took looked almost painful. She supposed that the walking troubles could have been due to the few-day-old stitches rather than the lack of her dog, but either way she looked miserable.

Robin didn’t know whether or not it would be acceptable to approach them, but luckily they didn’t force her to make that decision. As Jonathan and Clash walked up to the whiteboard to sign the three of them in, Steve and Nancy made their way slowly to where Robin and Russel were standing.

“Hey,” Robin greeted with a tight, forced smile. “How are you two doing?” Though she was addressing them both, she was still eying Nancy in particular.

Even so, Steve answered first. “I’m sore,” he admitted, giving a little smile to lessen the negativity of his words. He rubbed his wrist wrap for a second, then reached out to lightly touch Nancy’s elbow. “Doing better than Nance, though.” At that point, Jonathan rejoined the group and Steve turned to him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“I’m fine,” Nancy insisted, crossing her arms around herself. Steve rolled his eyes dramatically, causing her to feel the need to explain herself. “I’m in a bit of a fibro-flare,” she admitted. She paused for a beat, then let out a sigh and continued. “Actually, everything is kind of flaring. But it’s fine.”

Robin couldn’t help but frown. She didn’t look fine, and she almost told her so, but decided not to start an argument. “How’s Jackson?” she asked instead.

Now it was Nancy’s turn to frown. “He’s okay,” she sighed. “He’s been a little skittish, though, so I decided not to bring him into public for the time being. He needs to get his confidence back and remember that most other dogs aren’t going to hurt him first, and then hopefully he can go back to work.”

A pang of sympathy hit Robin’s chest. She had plenty of experience with not trusting others, and she hadn’t even been attacked, so she could only imagine how the dog felt. She took a second to ponder that, eventually coming to the realization of what that entailed for Nancy. She furrowed her brow. “Are you okay without him, though?”

Nancy pulled her lips back in a tight, unconvincing smile. “I don’t know,” she admitted truthfully. “But he needs to be okay first before he can help me. I can’t force him to work when he’s not at his best.”

Robin’s frown deepened. “Should you be here, then?” she asked. “I mean, if you’re struggling so much without him, is it safe?”

“Things were only going to get worse if I didn’t get out of the apartment.” Nancy’s lips grew tighter; She was really forcing her smile. Robin felt a weight in the pit of her stomach. Had Nancy been isolating in her apartment all weekend? How long would that last, if she couldn’t go out without Jackson? She knew how bad her own depression could get when she sat alone for too long, she could only imagine that Nancy would get just as lonely.

Steve must have read her mind. “We’ve all been hanging out,” he offered. “Jonathan and I came over to play cards and stuff.”

That eased Robin’s mind a little. She tried to keep her tone bright as she spoke. “Well, hey,” she said. “If you guys ever wanna come to my place, I can make dinner. All dogs invited, all dietary restrictions accommodated. Just let me know!” Of course, there was serious cleaning to be done before anyone could come over, but she wouldn’t mention that. She found that she desperately wanted to form a friendship with these people, and she didn’t want them thinking she was a slob. Even if it was kind of true.

“Sure!” Steve replied immediately, earning looks from Nancy and Jonathan. Immediately, he realized he had not actually consulted his friend or boyfriend, and he gave a sheepish grin. “At least, I’d like to. Jonathan, Nancy?”

“When?” Nancy asked tentatively. Robin immediately assumed that she was going to say no.

“Anytime,” she replied, trying to continue smiling. “Whenever works for you guys. Maybe after class this Friday?”

Nancy considered that for a long moment, and Robin nearly held her breath as she awaited her answer. Finally, she nodded. “Put me down as a maybe?” she offered, much to Robin’ surprise. “It’ll depend on if I’m feeling better or not by then.”

Accepting that answer with a nod, Robin looked at Jonathan, who skillfully avoided eye contact by looking towards Steve. “I’ll go if Steve does,” he said, his voice quiet. Steve patted his upper back.

“Great,” he said. “So Jonathan and I will be there for sure, and we’ll bring Kane and Clash. If Nancy’s feeling better, maybe she can even bring Jackson, and we could do a little socializing with trustworthy dogs?” He looked to Nancy for approval.

Nancy shrugged. “Yeah, maybe,” she replied noncommittally.

Before there could be any more discussion, Hannah cleared her throat, drawing all attention towards her. “Warm up, guys!” she chirped. “Puppy push-ups, heel around, do what you need to do to get your dogs focused!”

“What’s a ‘puppy push-up’?” Robin asked. Surprisingly, it was Jonathan who responded first.

“Like this,” he said. He pointed at the ground, cuing Clash to flop to the floor, his stub of a tail wiggling as he looked up. Almost immediately, Jonathan pointed back up, and the dog scrambled into a sit. With a flat hand, Jonathan signaled for him to stand, then to sit again, then lay down as he started the cycle again. Sit, down, sit, stand, sit, down, sit, stand… Robin was impressed by just how quickly Clash could do it, especially without Jonathan using any words with his hand signals.

“Oh,” Robin said, dumbfounded. “Well, Russel’s just getting the hang of ‘sit’ so we can’t do that yet…”

“That’s okay,” Nancy interjected. “Let’s teach him to look at you first, that’ll be more helpful right now, anyways. Here-”

Nancy stepped beside Robin, using the wall as a brace as she lowered herself shakily to the floor. Robin considered reaching out to help her, but didn’t know if it would be appropriate. She seemed to have it figured out, anyways, and eventually sat on the floor beside a wildly wiggling Russel. “Hey sweetie,” she cooed, sounding far more upbeat than she had only seconds before. She looked up at Robin. “Do you have any treats?”

Robin handed her a couple, and Nancy baited Russel into looking her in the face, then praised and treated him as soon as he made eye contact. She repeated this a few times, asking him to hold his position a little longer each time. Robin watched carefully, taking mental notes on Nancy’s technique.

From there, class went on, Robin taking some direction from Hannah, but getting more one-on-one work from Nancy. Not that she minded; She had been disappointed to not get Hannah’s attention the first day, but she had already come to respect Nancy’s training prowess quite a bit in the short time they’d known each other. Not only that, but she rather liked Nancy as a person, too. She hoped that she’d be feeling better by their dinner on Friday, because she really did want her to come with.


End file.
